Song- 'Seven Wonders (2017 Remaster)' by Fleetwood Mac
Saturday was spent at Hogsmeade, ordering coffee and cake while studying in small nooks of cafes in the village. In the evening the group huddled around the fireplace in the common room with books, Wizard Chess and snacks- courtesy of Theo.
Yet another Sunday rolled around, Tilly woke up in her bed stretching out the sleepiness from her limbs. Last night she had slept in her teepee with the girls, although she loved being with Theo, time apart was important not to rush into things.
It wasn't rare to find herself alone in the morning, sometimes the girls would go off and do their own thing and would be gone by the time she was awake. So she took no notice when all the beds around her were empty, this particular Sunday morning was quidditch practice. She dressed in her kit and pulled her long socks up her calves, the weather was getting chillier as September progressed- but she didn't mind.
She tied her hair back into a ponytail and grabbed her broomstick, mounting her broom she flew over the grounds and to the quidditch stadium. Touching the ground in the middle of the pitch, she frowned when the pitch was empty. A lot of the time there would be a few people practicing and warming up, waiting for the rest of the team to turn up. Shrugging to herself she trudged across the muddy pitch and jogger up to the changing rooms.
She made her way along the corridor and to the door of the changing rooms, her eyebrows pulled into a frown as she heard the muffled shuffling and shushing from behind the door. Brushing it off she pushed open the door and whispered a 'what?' to herself when she saw the dark room.
However, she almost leaped out of her skin when the lights flicked on and her teammates leaped out from the shadows holding balloons, confetti and banners displaying messages of 'Happy Birthday!'.
She threw her head back laughing when she was embraced in countless hugs and gifts and cards were pushed in her face.
If there was one thing that was sure about Tilly, it was that she'd be the one to forget about her own birthday. It seems cliche but she had too much going on with school, quidditch and Theo to even take a second to think about herself.
"Happy birthday mate!" Mattheo handed her a pristinely silver wrapped box with a black ribbon bow.
"You really didn't have to" she smiled gratefully at him.
"You know we all wanted to, you deserve it." He smiled joyfully and patted her back rather hard before rushing off.
Her pained expression of discomfort from the firm smack Mattheo gave her made Enzo chuckle. He pulled her into a hug and handed her a terribly wrapped parcel with a large grin.
"Thank you" Tilly placed a hand on Enzo's shoulder, giving it a little squeeze.
"No worries Tills, now I don't mean to spoil the moment but we best get out to practice before we get too late for breakfast." He gave a pained smile which she nodded at, settled down her gifts and jumped up on the bench that separated the changing room in half. It was rather full considering the boys had piled into the girls changing rooms. She peered over the heads and cringed at the loud chatter.
"Um... okay so, this morning I'm going to be putting you all through a few drills just to asses your strengths and see what we need to work on." She pursed her lips when no one acknowledged her announcement. "Quiet, please."
Noticing her struggle, Kittie hopped up on the bench "SHUT IT!" She bellowed, smiling triumphantly at her captain beside her when the chatter ceased.
Gulping, Tilly turned to her briefly and smiled "Thanks" she breathed, and turned back to her teammates. They were all kitted up and ready with their brooms at the ready.
"Alright, um-" she started and let out a breathe "-now then, remember, just because we've made it so far up the tournament so far, it does not guarantee us a spot in the final. Is that clear?"
Silence.
Great.
"Good." She nodded and hopped off the bench.
And the gruelling training began.
———
After ending training with a friendly game (the prize being the opposition buying butterbeers for the other team if they lost), everyone headed back to shower. The girls helped Tilly carry back all her kindly appreciated gifts and got showered and ready for the day.
Sometimes Theo would come and watch ISQ practice, Tilly thought that today- out of all days- he might've come to watch. She didn't see him in the stands, but maybe she missed him? She shook it off and didn't fret, but couldn't help the feeling of uneasiness when she saw his spot at the Slytherin table empty.
Nevertheless, she didn't want to pressure it. She painted a smile on her face, she may of laughed at jokes a little less but no one seemed to notice. And she was thankful for that. The last she wanted was to be smothered on her birthday.
Today she wore a beige knit jumper from Mrs Weasley a few years ago, she had made it a little too big so it fit nicely now she has grown into it a bit. Underneath a white blouse, paired with a brown tartan skirt, tights with her Doc Martens. Her hair was curled, thanks to Jessica, and Kittie had given her a new lipstick which she gladly applied.
But no matter the amount of birthday wishes she was granted, the one wish she hoped would come true was for him to walk through the doors of the Great Hall. Draco had noticed her constant peering around the room and attempted to ease her with a small smile. Tilly may have been appreciative of his action but if didn't do much to assist her on the whereabouts of Theo.
———
After a fulfilling breakfast of waffles with fresh whipped cream and fruit, Pansy dragged Tilly back to the Slytherin common room. Each of the friends wanted to give her their gifts.
"Here! Open mine first!" Blaise begged, shoving a small stack of presents in her face so far she rested backwards in her seat on the sofa by the fire.
"Easy, Zabini" Draco chuckled, shaking his head at Blaise's usual eagerness.
"Sorry, sorry. I mean- do what you want, it's your day. You don't have to open mine first, I just really want you to have it. I hope you like it though, I really do. I put a lot of thought into it. I mean we've missed time and I wanted to make up for it. But I don't want to pressure you, it's your birthday after all. But-" Blaise spilled out junk and waffle about apologies and justifications until Pansy placed a hand on his arm.
"Blaise-"she eased "- you're rambling again."
"Sorry, anyways. The point is, happy birthday Tilly." He smiled and scratched the back of his neck and wrapped his other arm round Pansy's waist after placing his gift on the coffee table.
"I'll open yours first" Tilly laughed lightly when Blaise's eyes lit up, and when he quickly tried to cover his excitement with a cough.
"Yeah, yeah whatever" he brushed off and nodded quickly, a ghost of a smile on his face. Pansy rolled her eyes at his behaviour, Draco doing the same.
From Blaise she got a pair of sapphire earrings (her birthstone), a pair of woollen socks, a new quill and three chocolate frogs.
From Pansy she got a red lipstick, some liquid eyeliner and a new black dress. It had long sleeves that puffed ever so slightly at the shoulders, fit with a square neck and ruching along the sides of the sleeves and the sides of the dress. It had a very flattering seam of ruching along the middle of the back and looked as if it would hug her waist and hips perfectly.
From Draco she got a new silver ring that was shaped in an intricate pattern, a leather blazer and the matching necklace to Blaise's earrings. It had a small circular sapphire stone attached to the fine silver chain, Tilly thought it was beautiful.
The boys had obviously planned this, but she had to say- they had taste.
———
Not long after, the Weasley's and the golden trio had barged into the common room with gifts of their own.
From Fred and George she got a pranking set and some sugar quills.
From Ron she got a bundle of different sweets from honey dukes and a hand-made card with a picture of the two of them covered in mud in first year.
From Ginny she got a silver claw clip and some vanilla scented lipgloss that was tinted a sweet shade of pink.
From Harry she got a floral decorated notebook and a muggle pen and some cauldron cakes.
From Hermione she got a muggle book called 'Little Women' and a set of five nail polish in pastel colours.
Next was Luna, she gave Tilly a vanilla candle that was topped with crystals and a delicate silver compact mirror.
———
As the day went on, Tilly had a lovely time. She received letters from family members: her parents, her two older brothers, grandparents, cousins. She was owled a few small tokens from friends back at ISQ in Italy, and sent kind letters from people she had known over the years.
It had reached around four in the afternoon, she had spent her day by the black lake with her friends. They played card games, some muggle sport games with a football Draco had managed to steal from a first year- much to Hermione's disagreement.
But still no Theo.
She was beginning to worry. Theo never did this- well, the last he did he stopped talking to her. She didn't even get a letter or a message passed on through someone else. Her birthday was nearing a close and she hasn't seen the one person she had wanted to spend it with for even a minute.
Currently they had a massive group of students all playing a game of rounders, students from every school has crowded round the makeshift pitch. There were jumpers used as goal posts while the sidelines were crowded with people finished with studying for the weekend.
"Okay, next game. Ten minute halves, winner gets... bragging rights!" Draco announced.
"Now we need captains, let's do fifteen aside!" Blaise called out.
"Birthday Girl! Where are you?" Draco called out from the centre of the pitch, Tilly's eyes blew wide and she shuffled herself further through the crowd.
"She's here!" Pansy's voice called out, and right then she wished the ground would swallow her up. She groaned when she was pushed through the crowd by Pansy and Hermione either side of her. She sulked her way towards Draco and Blaise who stood at the centre.
"Okay! Who for the opposing team?" Blaise called out.
People began calling out 'me!' or shoving their friends forward, but everyone silenced when a Slytherin boy emerged from the gaggle.
"Nott" Draco grinned and pulled him into a 'bro' hug "Okay! We have our two captains, let the team-picking begin!"
Tilly stood rooted at the spot, how he had the audacity to stroll out here after not speaking to her all day. How he had that stupid shit-eating grin on his face, wearing a long sleeved T-shirt that carved every muscle of his built body. His hair was in the same messy curls and it aggravated Tilly how bloody gorgeous he looked. She needed to be angry with him, not want to rip his clothes off. Her knees would've given away if it weren't for Blaise next to her to lean on.
She couldn't help but think of Friday night's events and how she wished to see his naked form again. She craved his touch and his lips that she wished she could nibble and kiss.
She was in no way dressed for a game of rounders and Theo recognised that too, it took everything inside of him not to drag her away from the crowd and rip that skirt that showed a little too much of her legs for his liking. He knew she would be pissed with him for showing up late, but he felt guilty too. If only she knew what he had planned.
———
They had picked teams, Tilly picking the Weasley twins, Harry, Ron, Ginny, Mattheo, Enzo, Kittie, Jessica, Ophelia, and the rest were girls from the quidditch team.
Theo had picked all Slytherin's, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students. Tilly didn't know most of their names but guessed he knew them from Draco.
———
"Half time over! Final half! Nott's team are currently in the lead with eighteen rounders, will Buckling and her team be able to rescue a victory?" Pansy called into her wand that she held at her throat.
Theo passed Tilly as the teams swapped from fielders to batters, he looked way too proud for Tilly's liking.
"Quite the performance today, eh?" Theo smirked looking down at her.
"Game's not over yet, don't get too cocky Nott" she clicked her tongue at the roof of her mouth, throwing him a dirty look of disproval.
"Ouch, little hostile don't you think love?" He feigned hurt, holding a hand at his chest while his blue eyes glistened in the sun that had started to set.
"Don't 'love' me when the first I see you on my birthday is when it's an opportunity for you to show off in front of all your little fan girls." She rolled her eyes and gestured to the many girls swooning over Theo at the sidelines.
"Jealous?" His mouth twitched in amusement.
"Not jealous, just disappointed. Now, I have a game to win." She grinned and barged past him with her shoulder and lined up with her team.
Theo was bowler, a lot would agree that third base was the most important post. It was the barrier between a half rounder and a full rounder.
Fred and George each scored a full rounder with ease, Ron and Harry got a half each. Enzo was caught out by Draco, Mattheo also scored a full rounder. Jessica, Ginny and Ophelia all scored a half. And in total, with the rest of the ISQ girls, they had seventeen and a half rounders.
"Last batter!" Pansy called out.
"No pressure, yeah?" Kittie side-hugged Tilly as she went to step up to the batting square.
Tilly took a deep breathe as she gripped the beaters bat in her hand, they were using jumpers as posts and a tennis ball. She bent over slightly, standing at the far corner of the batters square and her toes just up against the line they had made of acorns. This was a tactic she had learnt from her brothers, it was much easier to get a 'no ball' and build up to being granted half a rounder from three 'no balls'.
Theo's jaw ticked when she bent over slightly and held the bat up, the backstop eye's (who was a seventh year Slytherin) drifted to the hem of Tilly's skirt that only just showed the black band of her tights at the top of her thighs. He met her eyes that glistened with amusement as to where his eyes had drifted, shaking it off he bowled the ball.
"No ball low!"
Again.
"No ball high!"
Again.
"No ball wide! Half a rounder scored! 18-18, Nott's team have to catch or stump Buckling out in order to maintain the drawing score!" Pansy called.
Tilly smirked at Theo's tense shoulders and very displeased face when he teammates shouted words of encouragement- that were doing anything but encouraging him at this very moment.
He bowled.
She hit the ball and took off running.
The ball soared over Theo's team's heads, their jaws practically falling to the floor as they watched the ball land yards away from them.
She hit first.
Then second.
Then third.
And then the ball was tossed back to the pitch.
She scored fourth base, just seconds before the ball was caught by a Beauxbatons boy that was on fourth base.
Tilly's team jumped up in victory as she was scooped up by the Weasley twins. Theo's team each groaned in defeat as they watched the students that had bet on Tilly's team jump up in success of winning money and sweets they had bet.
Theo's fists clenched as he watched Fred and George's hands on her thighs. His mind whirled with images of her bare top half and flashbacks of her on her knees in front of him under the spray of the shower. It made him despise the fact that the Weasley's had their hands on the same places he had worshipped a few nights prior.
He awkwardly readjusted his jeans and stormed through the crowds of people and charged straight to the two red heads touching his girl.
"If you don't mind, I'd like a word with Tilly here." Theo said through gritted teeth, struggling to keep his anger at bay.
"Course" George grinned, unaware of the anger rolling off of Theo.
"No."
"What do you mean 'no'?" Theo asked in disbelief after she had been put back on the ground.
"I mean, no." She smiled innocently and crossed her arms across her chest.
"Why the fuck not?" His brows were pulled over, hooding his eyes as his temper began to rise.
"You tell me Theo. The first time you see me on my birthday you don't even have to decency to tell me where the fuck you've been all day! I was worried, and I actually wanted to spend time with you! You were the one that insisted on 'us' happening and caring about me." She poked his chest, feeling more frustrated herself.
"Maybe if you'd stop being so bloody full of yourself for once-"
"Full of myself?!" She laughed bitterly "I'm sorry that I wanted to spend time with you on my birthday and that I actually believed you would have the human decency to at least let me know I wouldn't see you all day! I was looking forward to seeing you and spending some time with our friends! You've disappeared all day, I was just worried about you. That's all!"
"Theo, about earlier in my dorm- I wasn't sure whether you wanted to-" Daphne Greengrass seemingly fucking spawned out of nowhere. And Tilly did not like what she was hearing.
"Daphne." Theo turned to her and gestured to the blonde standing in front of him.
"Shit" Daphne's face masked shock and fear.
Theo spent the morning with Daphne? In her fucking dorm room? What the fuck.
"Oh you've got to be kidding me." Tilly muttered under her breath.
"Love, let me explain-" Theo began to reach for her hands until she pulled away with tears burning her eyes.
"No. You've really done it now, Theo. Thanks a lot." She nodded as her bottom lip began to tremble. Hastily she rushed off, pushing through the crowd and running back to the castle leaving her shocked friends stood behind Theo.
Fuck.
———
A/N- hiya! I'm so sorry I've been off the grid for a bit! I'm doing my mocks currently and decided to have a little break so I wrote you a new chapter. Don't fret! Tilly's birthday isn't over yet! Cliff hangers are necessary sometimes ;)
Hope you're all well, thank you so much for almost 14k reads! WTF IS HAPPENING!!!!!
Love you all millions-T <3